Tigers Claws and Ravens Eyes
by strangebeautiful
Summary: While trying to defend her village against Akatsuki, Seiko is abducted and forced to join Akatuski. What happens when she begins to fall for Itachi, who feels the same way for her? Collaborated story with werewolvesfang from Quizilla. ItaOc
1. Perverts R Us

_Collaborated story with werewolvesfang from Quizilla. Enjoy._

Disclaimer: There really isnt any point in this. XD

_Read and Review Pwease  
_

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_**Chapter 1**_

I paced around my apartment, furious that they won't even let me fight in this one. See, word of Akatsuki had spread like wild fire across Suna, not that it scared me cause I can kick those guys asses any day. But stupid overprotective Suna told me to stay at home. I mean I could understand why. I'm one of the most valuable ninjas in Sand and if I were to be taken my Akatuski, in all words... it would suck. But I AM a ninja, I can protect myself.

Sighing in defeat, I crashed face down on my bed, my long [place hair color here] hair fanning out across the sheets.

"This is bullshit." I said just as I heard the first explosion a couple miles away from my house. Furious and concerned, I looked out the window to see what I dreaded the most.

I quickly grabbed my katana and strapped it to my back. I sat on the windowsill and looked back at my bedroom door. No way was I going through the front door, too many Jounin keeping watch. I jumped from my window down to the streets. I ran through the streets, explosions going off all around me. 'Lord Kazekage is in danger, I have to help him...' I thought.

Running toward the direction of the explosion, I was met with civilians running frantically in the opposite direction, screaming like sissies. But it wasn't until I got there that I finally understood. There was an empty space around 5 miles, which had a hole the size of a crater. Now I was a little stunned at the power of the attack. Things were getting crazier by the second as medic nin appeared to tend to the injured people. _See, this is what happens when they don't let me fight. _I jumped onto the tops of the buildings, finally catching a glimpse of fire red hair on top of the Kage building. _Gaara..._

I watched Gaara for a minute then glanced to the sky, where a giant clay bird flew. "What the hell? A clay bird?" I ducked down slightly when another explosion went off_._ Turning to jump, I was met with a smiling maniac, this blue eyes opened wide and holding a clay bird. Anger filled my features.

"Who are you and why are you in my village!?" I yelled at him, my hands slowly showing claws.

"It looks like I found the jinchuriki, yeah." He said smirking. I clenched my fists and my claws dug into the palms.

"So you're part of the Akatsuki? After the tailed demons... Everyone has been trying to keep me safe from you guys when I'm not the only demon in the village." I said not really talking to the man anymore.

"Hn. Enough talk." I lunged at him, katana at hand. My mood got darker when he swiftly moved out of the way, but not before I snipped off a few of those herbal essence locks. Deidara's eyes widened as he made a step back, finally changing to a fighting stance [i] Glad to know he sees me as a threat. [/i] Sand started to swivel around me, forming a circle of protection as I smiled, knowing Gaara was assisting me wherever he was. Now forcing chakra into my sword, I made another lunge, but faked a left turn and made a deep gash in Deidara's right arm. The sand following me as I moved, keeping away from the action but surely useable if needed. He sucked his teeth and pulled his hand into his pouch.

"What? Give up already?" My hair turned white as I slowly poured more chakra from my demon. Deidara's wicked smirk returned as he now took his hands out of his pockets, seeming to have something in his hand. He sped towards me, this time sand pushing him a couple feet back as my sword aimed to his head. Just then I saw a clay bird fly near me and before I could think of what the hell it is, it blew up and made a medical attention worthy gash on my left thigh. [i]Ah Shit...[/i]

I looked from the gash to Deidara. I glared angrily at him and growled. "Now who's giving up?" He asked with a wild smirk. I straightened up and clenched my fists. White chakra formed around me. White markings appeared on my sword and my nails had grown to extremely sharp claws. I ran at him with my katana only for it to be unmovable, like some unknown force holding it still. A scary puppet-like creature appeared next to Deidara and soon I found that my entire body was frozen. A growl escaped my throat.

"Sasori, I told you I finish her by myself, un." A frown shown on Deidara's face, well what was visible from his long blonde hair. I struggled as I felt invisible ropes keep me in a frozen-like state. Sasori just moved his fingers, prying the sword away from my grasp, not that I could fight at this point anyway.

"You were taking too long. You know how I feel about time." The puppet mumbled as Deidara chuckled and walked toward me.

"Don't you dare!" I yelled and glared daggers at him. He walked behind me and whispered 'Sleep tight' right before I felt his fingers hit my pressure points. I blacked out, not knowing what happened.

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I woke up in a dark cold room, instantly regretting moving when I felt the sharp pain in my neck. The room was dark in all aspects, with dark black carpeting and crimson shades on both on the curtains and the sheets I was currently wrapped in. I rubbed my neck where Deidara had hit my pressure points. Growling, I slowly remembering what had happened.

"Damn that stupid mother f--" I stopped when I heard someone open a door.

And that's when I saw the most beautiful and most frightening person in all my years of shinobi. The man that stood at the door had a jet-black hair and ruby red eyes. His lean but muscular frame leaned against the doorframe and his eyebrow slightly rose when he noticed my staring. My eyes traveled right back to those eyes, so similar to my own but even more unique with a blood red color and dark black specs. His silence brought a sense of awkwardness to the room.

"And who the fuck are you?" But I was in the least bit angry. Who can be angry when a gorgeous man and supposed friend of your captives walks in your room? I know I can't.

"My name is of no concern to you, girl." He said sounding slightly annoyed. I sighed and stared down for a moment. I looked back up at him. "Then why did you come here if you didn't want to tell me your name?" I asked. "I only came here because it was an order. It was my turn to keep an eye on you." He said.

"Would you like to tell me why I'm here?" I shifted uncomfortably under his gaze as I made an attempt to get out of bed. Immediately I was against the wall with Mr. Sexy inches away from me, my hands captured above me.

"Where do you think your going?" His piercing red eyes bore on mine as I forced myself to look away from his hypnotic gaze, afraid I'll get a headache from the pools of red.

"Oh Kami, I was stretching. Calm down. Why would I try to make an escape with my chakra levels so low. I'm not that stupid." Now I was the one to be annoyed and he just let go of me, turning around as he sat in the chair a few feet across from the bed. The mysterious man kept his back to me, but I'm sure he is perfectly capable of attacking me again if I tried anything funny. "Are you going to answer my question now?" He made a 'Hn' sound and I was starting to think that he's a stupid sexy bastard.

"Let's go. Go ask your stupid questions to Leader."

I looked at him as if he wasn't being serious. "You sure? You're not going to attack me for getting out of bed again?" I asked sounding slightly pissed off even though I wasn't really that mad at him.

"I'm only going to be taking you to Leader so you can ask your damn questions. After that I'm bringing you right back here." He said. I sighed and stood up, carefully making sure he wouldn't come at me like he did the first time. Looking down at myself for the first time since I woke up, I realized my black dress was still intact and my hair was exceptional. He stood up from his chair and grabbed my arm. He led me out of the room forcefully like I was being dragged.

Walking into the hallways, I noticed the color scheme didn't change too much. Black was the primary color while the floors were wooden. We walked down a long hallway, with him finally releasing his death grip on my arm as we neared the large steel door at the end. He opened the door, tossing me inside before giving me one last look, which went from my top of my purple hair down my body and back up. I gave him a dirty glare before I forcibly closed the door on him.

"Please. Have a seat." The deep voice startled me as I turned around to meet another pair of hypnotic eyes, but these were a dull grey color. To put it bluntly, he was scary. Fire orange hair sprouted on his head while piercings filled everywhere else. Fearing for his rage, I sat down.

"It's obvious that you have questions. Everyone usually does. So how about you start with the one on the top of your head." The man said seeming not to 'evil' at the moment. I gulped.

"Um... Well first... Why did you guys take me first...? Why not lord Kazekage? It's not that I hate him or anything, I'm just wondering...." I said seeming a bit too quiet from fear.

"That was... a misunderstanding on their part. Our prime objective was to capture the jinchuriki, but I didn't notice there were more than one of Sunagakure." I gave him a confused face, trying to understand what he was saying.

"So in other words, you all think I'm a jinchuriki?" I said trying to hold in a laugh. He nodded, eyes squinting at my reaction. "Well yes It's true that I have a demon inside me, but it's none the tailed beasts."

"Are you so sure about that?" He asked. "Your demon. It's a tiger right? As in the 'eleven tailed' tiger."

My eyes narrowed. "You're saying that I really am a jinchuriki? But I never made it past one tail." I said. But then my heart skipped a beat. _Stupid Seiko, the jinchuriki's all die in the hands of Akatsuki._

"Hn, well you could be special case. Either way, your demon is not exactly the type of power were looking to extract..." The word sent a shiver through my body went thankfully went unnoticed by Leader. "You could still be a great necessity." I realized what he was implying. My joining of Akatsuki and half of me was against it, half of me was saying 'hell, why not'.

"Let me re-phrase that. Either you join or we dispose of you."

I bit my thumb nail, thinking. "I guess I really have no choice." I muttered. "I'll join as long as I don't catch any of your members going through my stuff or looking at me in any way I don't like." I said sounding a little courageous. Pein slightly smirked and shrugged.

"I don't make any promises. You are going to be the 2nd woman here. One of which is off limits." Possessiveness appeared in his voice and I inwardly smirked,

"One more question. Who are you? As in your name?" I tucked some of my silky hair behind my ear, unknowingly allowing a better view to my chest. Being male of course, he looked down for a second before his eyes found mine again. I titled my head, giving my best innocent look. First impressions are everything and I'll just kick anyone's ass if they try anything smart.

"Pein. You can call me Pein-sama." I nodded and got up from the very comfortable chair, bowing slightly in respect. I opening the heavy door and was met with a rough hand on my arm. I growled, slightly shocking Itachi.

"Okay listen up. I am a part of your organization now and I demand some respect. No more roughly grabbing me. I can walk perfectly fine thank you very much." I said with a full out glare and his eyes rose in shock before a smirk appeared on his face.

"Hn. Feisty." That handsome face looked even more dazzling as he looked down at me. "Uchiha Itachi." He said giving me the answer to my previous question before he walked me back to my room.

I smiled slightly. "Uchiha Itachi. Nice name. I'm Nariko Seiko." I said to him formally. "So, now that I am in the organization... Do I get a better room than the place I woke up?" I asked. Itachi looked down at me and raised an eyebrow.

"Are you saying that my room's not good enough for you?" The deepness of his voice filled my ears as my eyes widened in shock. An amused look washed over his features. I quickly shook my head, a nervous smile on my face.

"No no! It's fine. Just that, your male and there's only one bed..." His smirk seemed to grow and a dark look started to grow.

"Well, take a look at the other members, come back and tell me whose room you'd rather sleep in." And he left the room, leaving me to wander through the halls.

I blinked and bit my thumbnail. 'Great, he left me alone... To wander...' I thought. "Does he know how bad of an idea that is!?" I shouted to myself. I sighed and walked down the hall with my hands in the tight pockets in my black mini dress. "...Hey... Where's my katana....?" I asked myself.

Finding the answer to my questions, I saw my sword being played with in the hands of a hooded figure with strings attached to his face. I walked into the living room and that when the madness started.

"Hidan, come here a second. How much you think this is worth?" The katana shone in his hands and he brushed a finger down the smooth metal. A white haired man got up from the couch and walked up to the man holding my katana.

"How the fuck am I supposed to know? You're the mother fucking expert at numbers." He scoffed his friend off and I loudly cleared my throat. They both turned their heads toward me and made large grins at me. "Hey babe. How are you?" Hidan's eyes were fixed on my boobs while the other man stared at my legs. They walked closer to me and I glared in a warning.

"Watch it! I'm not your eye candy! And I would love to have my katana back, before things got out of hand." I had a dangerous tone to my voice and it didn't go undetected by the men.

But Hidan kept walking toward me with that perverted/murderous smile on his face. I slightly bent my knees and let my fangs show through my crooked smirk. He slightly stopped his movements but ran full speed toward me, before I stepped out of the way. My legs kicked him in the stomach while I snatched the sword away from the other man's surprised form. Settling in one of the couches, I crossed my legs and ran my tongue across the smooth part of my sword.

"Tch, what kind of fighters are you?" And just before things were getting good, the blonde haired bastard entered the room.

I glared at him and growled. I stood up from the couch and was instantly in front of the blonde, pointing my katana at his neck. "You're the stupid mother fucking bastard that knocked me out. Give me one reason why I shouldn't kill you." I said, my claws gripping the handle of my katana tightly.

"I-i. It was a mission, un." My sword touched the skin of neck before I felt an arm around my waist pulled me backward.

"Deidara, learn to defend yourself. She could have killed you." A deep voice said behind me as the sword was once again taken out of my hand. "Your too dangerous with a sword. I'll hold onto this for now." Itachi let go of my waist and I turned around quickly to get it back from him but was startled by the fact that there were now a lot more people in the room that there was a few seconds ago. Itachi stood next to me as everyone either sat down or leaned against the wall.

"Babe, sorry we got off on the wrong foot. I'm Hidan." The grey haired perverted ninja with pink eyes spoke to me while continuing to eye me. I gave him a glare. Kakuzu, Kisame, Sasori, Tobi, Zetzu and Konan all introduced themselves. I instantly took a liking to Konan, I mean who wouldn't? She's so beautiful with her blue hair and that pretty rose resting atop her hair, and I admired her for being able to stay in a house full of men for so long without losing her sanity.

"Um... Yeah... Nice to meet you guys... I'm Seiko..." I said quietly. Sure I was acting different than my usual self at the moment. Who wouldn't, being surrounded by new people and all. So far I would have to say that my only friends here will probably be Itachi and Konan, but that's it. I looked at Itachi. "Can I have my katana back now?" I asked innocently.

He shook his head, "When you learn to fight without it, then I'll give it back."

"I can fight without it. Easily... It's just.... It's my... Favorite... Thing to fight with..." I said trying to convince him to give my favorite katana back. Itachi just gave the slightest smirk and put the katana in the inside of his cloak.

"There are more important things to argue about." Sasori, the man who looked to be 16 but spoke like he was 55, spoke as he rose up to get an apple from the kitchen. Itachi nodded, and added in his own input, "Initiation process, her uniform..."

"Wait whoa." I coughed on an invisible object stuck in my throat. "No one told me about initiation." Deidara just grinned and mumbled a 'Doubt she'll pass anyway' and just like that, he was on the floor, me on top of him, one of my hands tightly gripping his hair and the other a fist threatening to meet his face. "Say what?" I heard a picture snap behind me and Hidan crazy laughter.

"Nice ass babe." It was then that my hands started growing claws and I growled. Giving Deidara one last glare and looking away from his very apologetic face and I stalked toward Hidan.

"I have a fucking name! Seiko. Repeat after me, Seiko!" His grin infuriating me even more and I took one claw to quickly rip the Polaroid picture in half. And then I smirked putting my hands on his chest. "And that's too bad. Because I have to choose whose room I want to sleep in." Hidan's face turned to horror when I turned toward Itachi. "I pick Uchiha."

"How can you choose to stay the fucking Uchiha!?" Hidan asked loudly. I growled at him. "Because he's the only guy here who isn't perverted." I said. "But..." Hidan started until I cut him off. "No buts, Itachi said that I could choose who I wanted to stay with. And I choose him." Not bothering to look at Itachi to see his reaction since he was the one that offered anyway, I walked to the nearest window.

"Where... are we exactly?" Konan stood up and walked to the kitchen.

"Rain. Seiko, come help me in the kitchen. We have mouths to feed." And at that all the men made a single file line toward the dining room, probably some home training that Konan practiced with Deidara in the front and Itachi in the back. I smiled and nodded while I went to help her with the cooking.

An hour later.

As we served the food in plates, Konan put a hand on my shoulder.

"If you think you've seen Akatsuki at its worst, then your mistaken. _This_ is Akatsuki at its worst. If you don't give them they're plates at exactly the same time, there will be a fight." She smirked at me. I gave her a crazy look.

"How are we supposed to do that?" She made a hand sign and dispersed pieces of paper from herself and added chakra under it to keep it afloat. Placing the plates on top of the paper, she sends then into the dinning room, immediately hearing the roar of excitement upon seeing the plates. "Wow, I'm impressed." Konan smiled and poured 10 cups of juice.

"Try putting your chakra under the cups." I nodded and focused hard, putting some of my chakra underneath one cup. Satisfied that it floats, I did the same to the other 9, and walked in the room concentrating on keeping the cups afloat and perfectly landing in the spots for the men. They all smiled and cheered as Itachi put his head in his hands, showing a slightly impressed look. I glanced at him and went back in the kitchen with Konan to get our plates.

"You know, I've only been here for one day and I pretty much hate everyone except you and Itachi." I said to Konan as we walked back into the dining room. "I can tell. The guys won't show you any respect until you show them whose boss. And believe me. It's extremely hard." Konan said. She took a seat beside Pein and I took a seat beside her. There wasn't much to talk about since the guys were too loud to even hear over.

Across the table, I caught Itachi staring at me and I glanced at him before looking away. Feeling awkward again I took a sip of my juice, still feeling the heavy stare those eyes had on me and this time I stared back. His head tilted to the side, lying more comfortably in his hand, his eyes never leaving mine. Slowly I felt myself drifting away into his eyes, forgetting where I was for a second until I heard someone scream my name.

"Seiko!" Pein called me and I slightly jumped at the sound, averting my eyes toward him. At the corner of my eye I saw Itachi's smirk. _Ugh, bastard._ "You will train briefly with everyone here, learning they're skills and perfecting your own. At the end, you will fight Itachi for your initiation." I hand trembled at the thought of fighting Itachi. He seemed so powerful. Pein seemed to catch my reaction. "It's not a fight to the death. Were just testing your skills." I sighed, but then I felt another set of eyes on me. I turned to see Hidan staring intently at my boobs. Within a second, my fork flew across the table and stabbed him in the cheek.

"Stop staring at what you can't have."


	2. The Uchiha's Pride

_The 2nd chapter. Hope you like it!_

Disclaimer: Truly unnecessary, but I don't own any of Masashi's characters.

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_**Chapter 2  
**_

"Alright. It's Monday so Itachi and Deidara have kitchen duty." Konan declared while the sound of heavy laughter and a heavy grown from Deidara. I chuckled and excused myself from the table. Right before I was about to reach for my plate and put it in the sink, a masculine hand touched it first and picked it up. I followed the hand to Itachi unsurprisingly and we shared one glance as he turned to wash the rest of the dishes. _What did I get myself into?_ I left the kitchen and went back to Itachi's room, to explore.

I was going through his room. It was dark, something that I liked. I was never a fan of bright colours so I was glad that the walls were black. I went over to the only bed and sighed. 'Great, I have to share a bed with a guy... At least he isn't as perverted as Hidan.' I thought running my hand over the covers.

"Having fun?" Itachi's deep voice startled me as I jumped and fell backwards on the bed. I groaned in disgust, slowly getting up.

"Do you love to annoy me?" Itachi made a hn noise and I noticed the clothing in his hand.

"Konan said to give these to you. Personally, I think you would look better in one of my shirts than this." I felt a slight blush rush to my cheeks as I took the clothes from Itachi, unfolding the garment to see a long Akatsuki cloak, and an extra sleeping shirt.

"Give her my thanks." I grinned at the garment and made my index finger turn to a claw, ripping the cloak at least a foot from the bottom.

"I really hate things that go past my knees, the only thing I don't mind are pants." I said, explaining why I had cut off the part of the cloak.

"You know, we're going to have to make sleeping arrangements..." I said looking at the bed. "I was thinking maybe you could sleep on the floor." I said semi seriously. He chuckled and rose an eyebrow.

"You think I'm going to sleep on the floor of my own room?" He chuckled again and went to his drawer to take out his sleep clothes. I pouted and stormed into the bathroom carrying the shirt Konan gave to me. I took a shower, leaving my shirt on the toilet. After I was done, I walked out the shower to realize I had no towel.

"Itachi-san, can you please hand me a towel." I heard shuffling around the room and I opened the door slightly, my hand covering my chest. He handed me the towel without sneaking a peak at me, something of which I would appreciate him for later.

I dried off and got dressed. I sighed and put my hair in a braid. I walked out of the bathroom and saw Itachi lying down and reading. I raised an eyebrow. "What are you reading?" I asked. Itachi looked up from his book. "It's just about old folklore." He said.

"About?" I questioned as sitting next to him in the bed and crossing my legs. He slightly smirked as he sat up too.

"It's about a young girl who grows flowers in her mothers garden. Because her mother died, she feels afraid to leave her town. A young man starts to visit her and they become friends. Soon he tells her that he wants to travel the world and that he wants her to come with him." I didn't notice I was leaning forward slightly in anticipation. He continued, "She refuses and he thinks that she doesn't care about him, so he leaves. Days later, the girl leaves her house, realizing that she can't live without him and she spends years looking for him, only to realize that he died right after he left her. She sadly finishes his travels in memory of him."

I was in shock while he just stared at my expression. "That's really sad." He closed the book and placed it on his nightstand.

"Well, don't dwell on it. It's just a story."

I scratched behind my neck. "I know but I like books, they are so interesting that I get hooked... So... I get to sleep in the bed... right?" I asked quietly. He looked at me oddly.

"Sleep wherever you want. But I'm sleeping in _my_ bed." And at that he pulled back the covers and fell asleep on his back. I stared at his sleeping face for a few more seconds, wondering how a beautiful face could be so evil. _He must have been through hell._ I slowly got off the bed, uses my senses to make no sound as I got off the bed. Opening the window slightly and sat on the windowsill, letting my legs dangle off while I grabbed the sturdy frame and admired the scene before me. It was of the few days where it was raining in this town and the sky had partially cleared to see the bright moon and seemed to stare at me. I stared back and that's when I began to think at how much my life is really going to change. New friends, new occupation and now I was practically a S-class ninja since I willingly joined the Akatsuki, not that I had the choice of course. And then there were the friends that I left behind, well whatever type of friends they were, I would still miss them. But I can't help but thinking – _Was it really a misunderstanding that they didn't take Gaara instead?_

Sweeping my legs back over the window and closing it, I joined Itachi on the bed, laying on the side and falling asleep to Itachi's breathing.

I woke up to Itachi's arm wrapped around my waist. I could tell that it was an accident since he was still fast asleep. _Great, Uchiha has his arm around me and I can't get out of bed..._ I thought. I tried to move his arm but he only hugged me tighter. _Shit..._ Couldn't really blame the guy since my face was buried in his chest, which was probably my fault. I sighed.

"Itachi-san." I spoke as he immediately opened his eyes and looked down at me. He smirked at me, his face inches away from mine.

"Hn, I would love to wake up like this every morning." I scoffed as he let go of me and stretched. He looked out the window and then back at me. I imagine how I must look right now, my hair tussled around the sheets, my eyes hazy from sleep and my arms at my sides. "Good thing you chose to sleep in my bed. You look very vulnerable right now." I shivered at the thought of waking up in Hidan's bed and being possibly attack. Itachi chuckled at my expression, as he got out of bed.

"Get ready. Today, we train." He said as he walked off into the bathroom.

I watched him enter the bathroom. I waited so I could get dressed in there where there was no possible way of intrusion. After a few minutes Itachi walked out dressed and everything. I grabbed my clothes and walked in to get dressed. I was glad that there was a lock on the door. I got dressed and ran my fingers through my hair to fix it from its messy state. I sighed and got out of the bathroom to a waiting Itachi.

He looked at me with the shortened and re-made cloak [that I turned into a dress] and started walking out of room, expecting me to follow. We walked down the hall and through the doors which of course were opened by a special handsign, one of which I wont be taught to until I am trusted enough. We ran toward the training grounds, which was a secluded part of the woods with a clearing. Itachi dug his hand in his cloak and handed me back my katana.

"Okay. Show me what you can do with your sword." He backed away at least 50 feet. _Hm, he's a long distance fighter. Well too bad that I'm a short. _I crouched and ran my chakra through my sword, charging toward him before I disappeared in front of him and swung at him from behind. Him always being one step ahead of me, dodged my attack and again appeared a distance away from me. I got an annoyed look on my face and wondered how I was supposed to beat him if my sword needs to be in range of him and he's faster than anyone I've seen.

_Hm...._ I thought. I glanced at the area around me trying to figure out a good attack. I did a hand sign behind my back and created clones that hid in the trees and bushes. I did what I did earlier. I ran at Itachi and appeared behind him. This time when he appeared at a distance my clones had him surrounded, all of them pointing their katana's at him. "What do you think?" I asked.

He smirked at me before he disappeared, and I gasped as I felt his breath behind me and a sharp kunai inches from my throat. "This time, attack me and not a clone of mine." I sighed loudly as I backed further into Itachi, pushing his arm away from in front of my neck and turned around to him.

"Your impossible." I stated as I tried kicking him in the stomach, only to have him grab my foot and throw me aside. My hair turned white as I transformed and I landed on all fours. He shook his head though slightly impressed.

"The point is for you to learn how to fight without your power. Turn back." I turned back and groaned as I sat, cross-legged, trying to figure out how I was going to do this.

I bit my thumbnail and thought about attacks I could use. "Hey am I loud to use jutsu other than the clone jutsu?" I asked looking at him.

He nodded. "Use whatever you think will help you win, you're just not aloud to use your demon."

Understanding what the rules were I stood up and put my katana aside. I quickly did hand signs. 'Light Style: White Tigers Revenge!' I thought. Three white tigers formed out of chakra and ran at Itachi. Cornering him into a tree.

He escaped just as I thought as I surprised him and aimed a punch to his stomach, giving him a second time to dodge. Dodge he did, but not before the chakra radiating from my hand grazed his cloak, leaving a tear in it. His eyebrow raised and he actually took out his kunai this time. "Hn, good job. You didn't inflict any real damage, but if you studied pressure points that hit would have been a fatal blow." _Wow, didn't know that. _"Now try again."

I went to roundhouse kick him, chakra surrounding my foot. He knew better and dodged it instead of blocking it. I quickly took out a kunai and ran at him. My chakra left burning patches in the grass for every step I took. I cart wheeled around him and took my chance to kick him in the shoulder.

I smirked and looked into his eyes as he made a handsign and he dispersed into a cloud of birds. My eyes widened in shock as I looked around, the forest scene changing and dark red clouds covering the sky. _Is this some sort of genjutsu?_ I quickly made a hand sign making a clone, forcing the clone to force its chakra into my body, breaking me free of the illusion but collapsed on the force it had on my body.

"What. Was that?" Itachi stood the same place he was when I was about to kick him and he say down.

"Genjutsu. One of the powers my sharingan has." I stared into his eyes, realizing how dangerous those pretty eyes are. "The only way to avoid is to not look at my eyes or my hands." I threw my hands up in frustration.

"Ugh! You're impossible! How can I beat you if you keep dodging or blocking my attacks!? And it doesn't help if you put me in genjutsus all the time!" I said frustrated, I could feel my nails growing to claws from anger. Itachi looked down at me emotionlessly.

"You need to control your anger, if you can't your demon will easily take over and most likely kill you." Itachi said.

I sighed. "It's not easy controlling my anger when I can't even touch you. The only damage I did was tearing your cloak slightly..." I said sounding like I had given up. He shrugged and turned his head to face the trees.

"Give up already? Because if Pein thinks your useless then he will kill you. So try again. Plan even further ahead this time." He held his hand out and I angrily took it as he pulled me up. And I jumped into the trees, disappearing and masking my chakra as I watched Itachi stand in the center of the clearing, waiting for my attack. I cut most the trees in half and kept them together with strong chakra strings and made a handsign, making 3 clones. They immediately started charging towards Itachi, kunai's at hand and staring at his feet. He attacked all 23 of them, making them poof, letting the smoke cover him in all sides. I harshly pulled at the trees, letting them fall, to which he dodged and landed on top the fallen bark. I sent chakra waves through the trees, making them explode the bark and slightly injure Itachi in his side before he can get out of the area. That's when I appeared behind him with a kunai poking his back. My chakra holding both of his hands together and with me panting heavily.

"Gotcha." I strengthened the amount of chakra holding his hands down and he just bowed his head.

"Good. Your learning. You win this round." And I let him go from my chakra prisonment and took the kunai off his back. He looked around at the forest that I basically destroyed and chuckled lightly. "Hn, And you seem to destroy your surroundings too."

I sighed and scratched the back of my neck. "Yeah, I don't usually destroy area's like this. I just had to do whatever it took to beat you... I don't want to get killed by Pein-sama..." I said, playing with a bit of my hair nervously. "Maybe we should head back to the base... And I'm guessing you want my katana back..."

A laugh erupted from his throat as he smirked with his eyes looking at me slyly.

"Of course. Your gonna need it to fend off the perverts." I groaned and stormed out of the training grounds. "Seiko, you're going the wrong way." My eyes opened wide as I heard him say my name for the first time. And strangely, I liked the way it sounded from him.


	3. Softening Up

_Cherry: Here's the 3rd chapter!  
Itachi: ...You dishonor Uchiha Code...  
Cherry: Why? What did I do?  
Itachi: You made me care.  
Cherry: Awww._

_Disclaimer: Just read!  
_

* * *

_**Chapter 3  
**_

Itachi and I headed back to base. The training was hard, but I was glad to have beaten him. When we got back we headed to the kitchen for a quick thing to eat. "So Itachi... I did pretty good... Right?" I asked.

He looked at me quizzically and just made a slow nod, as he exited the room. I stared at his retreating form and sighed. _He barely talks. But when he does, he's either threatening someone or being a smartass. _I sat on the counter of the kitchen and laid my head against the side of the refrigerator.

"Seiko." I heard a female voice and looked to see Konan with a worried look on your face. "You okay?" I nodded and sighed loudly, jumping down to meet with her.

"It just feels like Itachi doesn't want to talk to me." Konan looked at me and laughed slightly.

"You think Itachi doesn't talk to you? I've never seen him talk that much to anyone. Consider yourself special." My eyes widened in shock. "He's just acting cold because he doesn't want to get close to you."

"He doesn't want to get close to me...?" I thought for a moment then smirk. "I could make this kinda fun... I'm going to make it so that it's hard for him not to be my 'friend'." I said then smiled.

*

I really have no idea how I'm going to get close to Itachi. He's like an icebox that you can't force open. And I doubt he'll open himself up willingly, since he is of course a cold-hearted Uchiha. _Only time will tell..._ And it doesn't help that he's nothing like the other guys... They can easily crumble in my hand but Itachi... He just won't break. What will I do...? I grabbed an apple from the fridge and left the kitchen.

Just then I saw Kisame enter the kitchen. I handed him an apple, which he took with a smile.

"Say Kisame, wanna spar for a bit?" _Maybe I can get some info about Itachi through Kisame. He is his partner after all. _I took a bite in my apple and Kisame smirked.

"You think your tough enough to fight me." He looked down at me from his birds' eye view. "And a little bit skinny too. You should eat more." I rolled my eyes and placed a hand on my hip.

"Is that a challenge?"

"It sure is." Kisame said smirking. I sighed and we appeared in the training ground, which was still in ruins. Kisame's eyes went wide. "What happened here?" He asked.

"Oh, Itachi and I trained. I actually beat him." I said smiling a fake smile. He looked at me as If I'd grown several heads.

"You're telling me, that you beat Itachi? Itachi Uchiha? And you're still alive?" Kisame took a step back when I nodded triumphantly. "Alright then. I'm not killing myself fighting you. See ya." He was about to form a transportation jutsu when I appeared in front him yelling 'Wait'.

"Okay maybe I exaggerated. All he did was train me." The fear in Kisame's face wore off and he ran a hand through his hair.

"But you beat him during training. This could mean only 2 things. That you actually tough enough to beat Itachi – which I highly doubt because Itachi's never has been beaten before. Or..." Kisame leaned down to whisper to me. "That he considers you special enough to keep alive." And with that he made the kanji and disappeared, leaving me to think about what he said.

I sat down on one of the fallen trees and thought. "Itachi cares enough to keep me alive... He talks to me more than anyone before... He's one of the few who actually doesn't think I'm eye candy... He's actually pretty nice to me... Maybe it really is possible that he doesn't want me dead...." I thought out loud.

"Are you implying that I have slight feelings for you?" The deep voice made me jump and turn around. And of course I was met with the smirking face of Itachi Uchiha. I blushed slightly, cursing in my head for being so stupid.

"Uhh, I don't know what you're talking about." I folded my arms, hoping that he didn't hear everything I said. He gave me an amused look. _Why was this so funny to him!?_

"Sure you don't. I'll be a fool if I let myself become attached to you." Itachi made a step closer to me. "Looks like I'm an idiot then." And he disappeared.

I looked around. "Itachi...?" _He said that he would be a fool if he let himself get attached to me... Then he said that he must be an idiot... Does that mean that.... He loves me?_ I thought. I let out a sigh and appeared back at the base._ No way, he doesn't love me. But he probably likes me. _

Walking back in my room, I noticed that there was a note on our bed. Whoa, did I just say 'our bed'? Oh Kami, I'm definitely going crazy if I think I have feelings of him. I picked up the note and read it out loud. "Go see Pein. We might have a mission." Slightly scared at the thought of possibly being killed on a mission, I walked down the hall and to Pein's office. Before I could even raise my hand to knock, Pein yelled 'Come In'.

"Pein-sama." I walked into the room and bowed slightly to him. He motioned for me to sit down and began with the plans.

"Akatsuki needs to strengthen our bonds with our alliances, since Konoha has been spreading a bad name of us. Itachi, Kisame and yourself will visit the Waterfall village and steal a couple scrolls, just so they know to depend on us. Now, you are required to go on the mission, but you shouldn't fight in any battles. Akatuski moves as a unit, and you may be used to fighting alone, so use an invisibility jutsu and don't fight." I just looked at him.

"So you only want me to observe?"

Pein nodded. I blinked "Okay.." I stood up. "Then I'll go get ready..." I left his office and went to my room... which I happened to share with Itachi. I'm beginning to like that idea more than I should.

*

We headed out the next day, deciding to travel by night. The trip itself was painful in a sense because whenever I tried to talk to Itachi, he would respond with one word replies, a 'hn' or with nothing at all, leaving me to chat with Kisame.

I sighed and walked in between the two of them. "Man, you guys are less talkative than Gaara, and he hardly talks..." I muttered.

Just then I felt the wind get knocked out of me, as I was pushed quickly to the ground. Several kunai flew over my head, and I looked to see Itachi as he caught one of him. Before I could think about what had happened, Kisame and Itachi stood in front of me, in defensive stances. I stood up, a little stunned and I felt foreign chakra come closer and closer to us.

"Seiko!" Kisame yelled as he formed a jutsu, a body of water, the size of a lake fired straight-ahead, making the enemy ninja change course. The hunter nin grew closer and even though they came in large numbers, half were burned alive by Itachi's jutsu and another good few drowned in Kisame's wave. I turned around to see about 20 ninjas coming form our behind. Using my invisibility jutsu, I disappeared.

'Pein told me to use a invisibility jutsu, he didn't say I can't fight.'

When I was out of sight I quickly formed hand signs. 'Light Style: White Tigers Revenge!' Three white tigers appeared from chakra and ran at the ninja, taking out most of them. The few that remained kept coming. I took out kunai with paper bombs attached to them. I threw the kunai at the enemies and the bombs went off, taking out the rest.

Kisame and Itachi appeared beside me, telling me to run as we raced through the forrest. 10 minutes later, and with a panting girl in tow, we stopped to rest. Itachi was pacing and Kisame was sitting against a bark.

"You were supposed to stay invisible." Itachi harshly said to me as he paced the ground, surely uprooting all the grass in the area. I gave him a confused look.

"I'm So-?"

"No." He interrupted me and massaged his temples. Kisame laughed while I shrunk in my corner against a tree, wondering why he was so concerned.

_Meanwhile in Suna._

"Temari, what happened!? Weren't there jounin keeping an eye on her!?" Kankuro asked. He was extremely concerned because he didn't want to get shit from Gaara.

"There were Jounin standing right outside her bedroom door! It's not my fault that there weren't any outside her window!" Temari snapped back.

Gaara paced around the room. "We have to find a way to get her back. If she were to join sides with the Akatsuki the whole country will be in danger. She's stronger than you two think." He said.

Temari and Kankuro both looked at Gaara with that kind of apologetic look. Before they could even start saying they're 'sorry's', he threw his hands in the air.

"Don't even try to tell me that there is no way we can get her back." His hand rose and sand slowly started to seep onto it. "She is a shinobi to Sand and its our job to keep her safe."

"But Gaara." Temaru tried taking a step toward her younger brother but was stopped with sand started to spread onto the floor.

"I want the best search teams." The anger slowly started retreating a lot with the sand. "In fact, I think its about time we ask Konoha for help."

Kankuro nodded. "I'll go tell the messengers to send a hawk to tell Konoha the news." Kankuro said running off.

"And I'll go and get our best tracker nin." Temari said taking off, not wanting to be near an angry Gaara.

Gaara watched his siblings run off and out of the room. Gazing out of his window, he watched as all of the authority figures have empties into the streets, trying to calm down the villagers. He sighed, resting his forehead in his hand.

"Kazekage. All of this unnecessary stress." He cracked a slightly smirk when a dear friend popped into mind. "Naruto, you have no idea what your getting yourself into."


End file.
